Coronation of Edward VII. Urban, an American entrepreneur, had come to London as an agent for Thomas Edison, but had branched off from Edison in 1897 to become the director of the Warwick Trading Company. Urban was the London representative for Méliès's Star Film Company during Méliès's most fruitful period, and also occasionally distributed Méliès's films in the United States through the Biograph Company. Production Urban was keen to film the actual coronation, but was denied permission; even if it had been given, Westminster Abbey would have been too dark to film in, and the camera would have been problematically noisy. Méliès and Urban decided to film a staged simulation of the event; it was agreed that Méliès would direct the film at his studio in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, while Urban would commission and finance the project. Initially, Méliès considered the possibility of filming the ceremony in the unabashedly artificial theatrical style he used for his fantasy films; one idea, apparently suggested by Méliès to Urban in a letter, would have had the recently deceased Queen Victoria appear in a vision. However, Urban was intent on a more realistic "pre-enactment" of the ceremony to come. In a letter dated 26 May, he wrote to Méliès: Urban obtained a detailed description of the ceremony's rituals from the royal protocol officer and passed it along to Méliès, as well as some photographs of the Abbey and various pieces of advice, such as: Urban also visited Montreuil during production to check up on the work, and insisted that his own camera be used for filming. According to his recollections late in life, the British film pioneer George Albert Smith, a colleague of Urban's, traveled to Méliès's studio to operate the camera. The film condensed the several hours of the ceremony into a single six-minute shot encompassing the most important moments. The production used about forty actors in all, chosen for their similarity to the figures they portrayed; Queen Alexandra was played by an actress from the Théâtre du Châtelet, and King Edward by a wash-house attendant from Le Kremlin-Bicêtre. (The same attendant later reprised his kingly role in Méliès's 1907 fantasy Tunnelling the English Channel.) Méliès's nephew Paul also made an appearance, as the attendant who bears the king's ceremonial sword. Méliès, who may have traveled to Westminster Abbey to research the location for the film, designed and built an elaborate trompe-l'œil set, showing